In the third year of Guangxu, the drought in the north not only continued, but also the drought further expanded, the number of affected prefectures and counties in the nine northern provinces increased sharply from 222 prefectures and counties to 402, the number of victims suddenly exceeded 100 million, the entire northern red land was thousands of miles, many rivers were cut off, if it were not for the fact that all prefectures and counties generally have deep wells drilled by machines, not to mention watering the land, even drinking water would be a problem.

The increasing drought situation and the gradual expansion of the drought area have further increased the scale of resettlement in the affected prefectures and counties, and the attitude of local officials and gentry has also changed, and they have begun to spare no effort to support and actively encourage the immigration.

Disaster victims from Zhili, Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, northern Jiangsu, and northern Anhui provinces migrated to the northeast, north, northwest, and southwest on a large scale under the organization of the imperial court and Yuan Qi.

At the same time, the Qing Dynasty launched a large-scale road repair campaign from south to north and from east to west, and a large number of engineering teams formed by the northern disaster victims went to the provinces in a steady stream to participate in this vigorous road repair campaign.

Because of this great drought, the entire Qing Dynasty seems to have become a huge construction site, building roads and bridges, building embankments and dams, investing in factories and mines, and rebuilding cities..... A variety of cash-for-work projects have been launched.

More than 400 disaster-stricken counties have been given relief, large-scale immigration, cash-for-work projects have blossomed everywhere, and factories and mines have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, all of which are backed by huge financial support!

Shanghai, Zhennan Wangfu, Changle Book House.

"The ——。 of the Big Shopkeeper" Hu Guangyong said in a heavy tone: "So far, Yuanqi has overpaid 600 million yuan, and if the drought lasts for another two or three years, it will ........" ”

In recent years, Yuanqi has been forced to enforce rigid regulations on the grounds of preparing for the implementation of the gold standard, but all economic activities related to Yuanqi must use paper money, coupled with the guidance of public opinion and Yuanqi deliberately raising the gold and silver exchange ratio, making Yuanqi banknotes more valuable than silver dollars, so that in recent years, paper banknotes are more popular than silver dollars. However, with such a large-scale over-issuance of banknotes, the consequences of a run on paper money are unimaginable.

"Snow Rock doesn't need to worry." Yi Zhizhi waved his hand disapprerovingly, and his tone was very indifferent, "The amount of money borrowed by the imperial court from Yuanqi has exceeded 200 million, and the investment in the United States is also more than 200 million, there is nothing to worry about, continue to over-issue, don't be afraid!" ”

Even Zhao Liewen on the side was a little anxious about this, "Big shopkeeper, paper can't hold the fire, if it continues like this, sooner or later it will cause a run, and it will also cause the depreciation of paper money!" ”

Hu Guangyong said tentatively: "The big shopkeeper is ready to implement the gold standard? ”

"Not bad." Yi Zhizu nodded slightly: "The domestic silver has basically been taken off, and it is time to implement the gold standard, so get ready, and announce the implementation of the gold standard next month, and the international Chinese currency is directly linked to gold, however, it will not be exchanged in China for the time being, and it can be freely exchanged after three years." ”

In the past two years, the world economic crisis and agricultural crisis broke out, and the Qing Dynasty changed to the practice of using gold to settle and use silver to import grain and mineral products from the United States, Russia, South America and other countries, which really cost a lot of silver.

Zhao Liewen said in a sullen voice: "Such a large-scale over-issuance, and it will continue to increase, can such a big hole be filled in three years?" ”

"Almost." Yi Zhishu said slowly: "The annual output of South African gold mines is steadily increasing, and it can fill at least 100 million holes a year, and in addition, the recovery of silver invested in the United States after three years with interest can be at least 300 million." Even if it is a slight deficiency, it is not a big problem. ”

Speaking of this, he looked at Hu Guangyong and said slowly: "With Yuanqi's current industrial and financial scale, coupled with the gold mines in South Africa, not to mention two or three hundred million holes, even five or six hundred million holes are not a big problem, don't worry, although additional issuance!" ”

Zhao Liewen said in a deep voice: "Big shopkeeper, will such a large-scale additional issuance in a short period of time cause currency depreciation and price increases?" ”

"That's for sure." Yi Zhizhi nodded, "Such a large-scale increase in currency issuance will inevitably cause prices to rise, but this is only temporary, large-scale and rapid development of industry, there must be a corresponding amount of money in circulation, otherwise deflation will be formed."

Now that there is a severe drought in the nine northern provinces, prices are rising, which is a reasonable matter, and no one will put this responsibility on Yuanqi's head for the time being, even after the disaster has passed, it will take two or three years of recovery period, and there is such a long buffer time, which is enough to let prices fall steadily. ”

Li Hongzhang, who had never spoken, suddenly asked: "Will the announcement of the gold standard in China, but the paper money in China have to wait three years before it can be freely exchanged for gold, will this move cause dissatisfaction?" Or is it a run? ”

Without waiting for Yi Zhizhi to speak, Hu Guangyong smiled and said: "Brother Shaoquan is too worried, my country has always been a big silver country, once my country announces the implementation of the gold standard, the international silver price will inevitably fall sharply, and the gold-silver exchange ratio will rise sharply, in this case, no one is willing to exchange the paper money on hand for silver dollars, because paper money is more valuable and stronger than silver dollars." Moreover, because of the South African gold mines, no one will worry that Yuanqi will not be able to exchange the issued banknotes. ”

Hearing this, Yi Zhi couldn't help but smile, "Xue Yan reminded that paper money is not incompatible, in these three years, paper money can still be freely converted, but it can only be exchanged for cash, not gold, this point should be noted, and people cannot misunderstand that paper money cannot be cashed in these three years." ”

Zhao Liewen said worriedly: "Now that Yuanqi's cash silver reserves are seriously insufficient, if there is a run, wouldn't it be troublesome?" ”

"There's nothing to worry about." Hu Guangyong said with a smile: "Although there is a serious shortage of cash, there are still about 200 million, unless there is a large-scale run on the whole country, there is no trouble." ”

Li Hongzhang said: "In this disaster relief, Yuan Qi has offended the gentry of the northern provinces, and if there is an opportunity, they are afraid that they will not let it go." ”

"It's a must-have." Hu Guangyong said and looked at Yi Zhizhi and said: "Can the big shopkeeper add one more point, from the date of the announcement of the implementation of the gold standard, the silver exchange banknote business will not be accepted." ”

Once the gold standard was implemented, silver was no longer legal tender, and Yuanqi's announcement that it would not accept silver exchange was enough to play a great deterrent role.

After a slight sigh, Yi Zhizhi said slowly: "It's not okay if you don't accept the exchange of silver, announce that within one month, the exchange will be carried out according to the real-time international gold and silver exchange ratio, and the exchange will be terminated after one month." After a pause, he continued, "Spread the news first." ”